Fodder-cutter.



J'. DICK.

PODDER CUTTER. APPLIOATTON FILED AUG. 3, 1912.

Patented Aug. 12, 1913.

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J. DICK.

FODDER CUTTER.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 3, 1912.

Patented Aug. 12, 1 913.

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FODDBR CUTTER.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 3, 1912.

Patenteci Aug. 12, 1913.

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FODDER CUTTER. APPLICATION FILED AUG. 3, 19 12.

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J. DICK. FODDER CUTTER.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 3, 1912.

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J. DICK.

PODDER CUTTER.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 3, 1912.

1 ,?@,@1 9 Patented Aug. 12, 1913.

'I SHEETSSHEET 7.

' the modified v a plan-view of the same; Fig. 11, a cross sec i 1 feed-hopperconveyors;

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOSEPH DIoK, a citizen of the United States, residing at Canton, in the county of Stark andState of Ohio, Improvements in Fodder-Cutters, of which the following is a specification.

The invention relates to the feed mechanism in machines for cutting fodder other forage, and especially in machines for cutting alfalfa and similar plants having long limber stems or stalks which are in clined to become tangled and bunched together; and the objects of the'improvement are to provide a laterallyfiaredfeed hood for the feed hopper, counterbalancing and depressing springs for the oscillating hood, separate chain conveyers for the feed trough and feed hopper, differential gears for the separate chain conveyers, selfcleaning construction for the chain conveyers, simplified construction for'the roll conveye'r, and novel connecting devices between tin}L feed trough and the feed hopper.

in the accompanying part hereof, in which- Figure l is a side elevation of a fodder" eutter showing the general arrangement of the parts; Fig. 2, a rear elevation looking into the feed hopper,

removed; Fig. 3, a longitudinal section of the feed trough; Fig. 4, a plan view thereof; f Fig. 5, a longitudinal section of thefeed hopper and part of the feed trough; Fig. 1 a fragmentary perspective view of a con-1f strip showing the teeth thereon; Figji r 7, a plan view of the feed hopper and part feedtrough, showing one side in sec i Fig. 8, a'rear end" 11 looking into the feed hopper, showing a modified form of the feed hood; Fig.9,a longitudinal section of the feed? I veyer of the tion on line 7-.7, Fig. view of the feed trough hopper and part ofthe feed tion of thefeed trough online 11'1 l, Figs. 3

and At; Fig. 12," a fragmentaryplan view of the driving gearing for-the feed trough and? 1 tary side view showing the. Ineansfor con necting and disconnectingthe feed trough Fig. 14, a'simif lair-view showing the same parts connected f' f fragmentary section on i to and from the feed hopper together Fig. 15; a

JOSEPH max, on on mnmwmn; f

Specification (if-Letters have invented certain-new and useful and oscillating referred embodiment-pf the invention, thus set forth in general terms, is illustrated I drawings, forming with the feed trough' rough, showing k form of the feed hood; Fi 0;.

Fig. 13, a fragrnen s I I Application filed August 3,1912. sedative 713,635}

ner side v1ew;of one feed'tro'ugh ho okfijFig. 17, a' section; of the roll conveyor on use s-fl me F g" 8, a 5 1 e .60 of the'roll conveyer Fig, 19, detached side" view of one tooth-rin'gjand Fig. -20, ade tached side viewof the brace spider.

Similar numerals refer to; similar 'parts throughout the drawings. t Y 1 The fodder' cutterincludes the easel for. the cutting and'blowing mechanism, the feed hopper '2, the feedi hood either] 3 or 3}, and the feed trough 4 and the feed mechanism includes the chainconveyer 5 in the bottom of the feed trough, the chainconvever'ti in thebotto-m or merged ho per and the chain. conveyer 7 the top of the feedfihood 3,"o r i the roll 'c'onv'eyer 7 3a the top of thefeed 3a! I r yir Power is transmitted to the machine by means of a belti'operating on the pulley 18 secured onthe main "shaft 9Qof the cutting the'case; andfthenc'e' to the ,eed-.

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the gear chain 20. Power is transmitted from the shaft.19 of the feed-hopper conveyer 6 by means of the extensible shaft 21,

. the slightly'beveled gearing 22, and the extensible shaIt 23, to the rear shaft 24 of the.

gaged with the bevel pinion 16, or will be operatedin the reverse direction when the double clutch'lO is engaged with the bevel pinion'16, or will stop when the clutch is disengaged from both of the bevel pinions 16 and 16", as shown in Fig. 1. The gearings" are furthermore so differentiated, as by using a larger wheel 17 on the rear shaft 17 of the feed-trough conveyer than the relatively smaller wheel 19 on the rear shaft 19 of the feed-hopper conveyer, that the feedhopper conveyor will be driven faster than the feed-trough conveyor. 4

The feed-trough conveyor 5 is mounted between the upright walls 25 of the feed trough, and the portions 25 of the side walls which extend above theconveyer are inclined outward in the usual manner as shown in Fig. 11. The feed-hopper conveyer 6 is likewise mounted between the upright walls 26 of the hopper, the'upper forward portions of which are flared forward from the throat 27 of the hopper to form the inclined walls 26 and the upright walls 26. The upper-rear portions 28 on the side walls of'the feed hood are formed in an upright plane telescoping just inside the upright walls 26 of the feed hopper,-while the lower-forward portion of the side walls of the hood are flared forward to form the inclined walls 28 and the pendent walls 2.8 which telescope gimmediately inside the flared upright walls 26 of the hopper.

The feed hood 3 is secured .on the hopper 2. by the co-axial pivotal connections each composed of the bolt 29 extending through the washer 30 on the inner side .and the wedge boss 31 formed or secured on the outer side of the wall 28 of the I hood; the wedge boss having the trunnion 32 bearing in the. upright l0ngitudinal ear '33 formed or secured .on the flared upright portion 26 of the" side Wall of the hopper. The end of the't-runnion 32 terminates just outside the car 33 so that the joint is secured but not clamped together by the nut,35 of the bolt bearing against the outer end of the trunnion. The feed hood is thus permitted to oscillate on its 'pivotal connection 7 with the. hopper walls, to increasefor decrease the depth of the throat 27 of the hopper to accommodate the feeding of varying quantities of fodder into and throughthe hopper; and,

. are provided in the side walls of the hopper and are curved concentric with the trunnion pivots 29 on whichthe hood oscillates. The chain conveyer 7 in the top of thehood, or the top wall 7 thereof when the roll conveyer 7 is used, is inclined upward and forward from the throat 27 to the mouth of the hopper, when the rear end of the hood iswlowered in normal position, which inclination varies as the rear end of the hood is oscillated upward.

The rock shaft 38 is j ournaled in the bearings 39 in the upward extensions 40 on the forward ends of the sides 26 of the hopper, on the ends of which shaft are secured the crank arms 41-and 41 to which are connected the upper ends of the links 42, the lower ends of which links are connected with the bearings 36 ofthe rear shaft 24 or 24 of the hoodconveyer. Two coiled springs 43 and 44 are carried on the rock shaft, one end of each spring being connected to the said extension 40 of the hopper and the other end being connected to the rock shaft.

The spring 43 is so arranged that it will counterbalance the excessive weight of the rear end of the hood when the same drops down into .normal position, as shown. in Figs. 1, 5 and 9, but will have little or no action when the forward end of the hood is elevated; and the spring 44 is so arranged that its energy is not brought into play until. the rear end of the hood is raised up- Ward from its normal position, whereupon it tends to depress the rear end of .the hood with gradually increasing power.

In the operation of the machine, it is evident that when fodder or other forage is being delivered to the mouth of the hopper by the conveyer in the bottom of the, feed trough, the same will be positively fed forward into the throat of the. hopper by means of. the conveyors in thebottom and top thereof, and, when these conveyers are operatedmore rapidly than the feed trough conveyer, this positive, action is accelerated and serves to draw the forage into the hopper even though laterally projecting portions thereof should catch against the side edgesof the hopper and hood walls. Furthermore, it is evident that .thelaterally flared side walls of the hopper and hood will serve to avoid, as much as possible, any

tendency of the forage to catch or lodge against the forward edges thereof,and that these walls, together with the hopper and hood 'conveyers, form .a feed funnel converging in all. directionsfrom a forward constricted throat, frdm which mouth into enlarged mouth to a rearward relatively.

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strips 47, each of which carries a row of teeth 48. The bearing boards 49 are secured between the side sills 50 of the trough cframe, upon which boards the cross strips 47 slide in the operation ofthe conveyer. The width of the bearing board is slightly less than-the space' between the gear chains 45, and the upper surface is located above the side sills so that the upperstrands 45' of the gear chains operate freely above the side sills, thus saving the chains from rubbing thereon; it being understood that the lower strands 45 of the gear chains hang freely suspended between the gear wheels at the ends of the conveyer.

The face of the conveyer 5 is composed of the series of longitudinal bars 51 laid loosely between the teeth 48 upon the intervening portions of the cross strips 47-, the forward ends of the bars being secured to the forward end board 52 of the feed trough as by the angle bar 53 secured to the end board and engaged over the depending tongues 54 on the face bars; while the rear ends 55 of the bars rest loosely upon the bottom of the feed-hopper conveyer which is preferably composed of a similar series of bars5l the forward ends 53 being secured upon the cross rod 54 and the rear ends 55 resting freely upon the cutter bar 56 of the machine. The feed-hopper conveyer 6 is preferably made like the trough conveyer with the cross strips 47 sliding on the bearing plate 50 and provided with the teeth 48, which teeth operate between the face bars51 which in this conveyer are preferably bridged between the cross rod 54 and the cutter bar 56, to relieve the cross bars of some of the pressure of the fodderin the hopper. By this peculiar construction and arrangement,

it is evident that the ends of the teeth which? protrude above the face bars serve to comb and carry the forage forward along the same, and it is furthermore evident that any portion of the forage which may drop downward or become tangled around the face bars is carried freely along the same and slips off the forward end thereof without catching or clogging at any point, the forward ends 55 or 55 of the face bars being free to rise whenever necessary to permit the passage of material underneath the same.

The cross strips 47 are preferably made with the longitudinal grooves 47 in the forward and" rear edges thereof, and a plurality of teeth are preferably formed integrally on the plate sections 57 which are provided with the tongues '58 adapted to be clamped in the grooves, and the screws 59 may also be provided for securing the plates to the strips. (This construction permits the plate sections tobe made long enough to carry a plurality of teeth, and yet short enough to avoid irregular shrinkage in casting, and

trough, and the hooks 61 having the shank 62 adjustably'secured to the bracket. The bearings 63 for the rear shaft 17 of the feed trough conveyerare formed in the brackets 60, and the hooks 61 are adapted to engage on the pins 64 secured on the side wall 26 of the feed hopper adjacent to the forward edge thereof, the pendent locking latch 65 being provided for normally holding the hook in engagement with the pin.. A portion of the shank 62 of the hook extends in rear of the bracket- 60 and the shank is secured thereto by means of the bolt 66 passed through the slotted aperture, 67 in the bracket, and the contact faces of the shank and bracket are provided with interlocking ribs as at 68., whereby the hook can be longitudinally adjusted and rigidly secured on the bracket.

To connect the feed trough 'to the feed hopper, the hooks 61 are pushed over and beyond the pins 63 to permit the extended portion of the hook shanks to rest upon the pins, in which operation the pendent latches 64 are pushed upward and rearward, as shown in Fig. 13. The gear chain 18 is then engaged on the gear wheel l7 on the real shaftof the conveyer 5; after which the feed trdugh is moved forward until the hooks 61 engage on the pins 63, whereupon the pendent latches-64 drop down into locking position, as shown in Fig. 14, and the gear chains 18 are stretched taut between the gear wheels 14 and 17 it being understood that the hook is longitudinally adjusted on the bracket 60 to properly tighten the gear chain 18 in this relation of the parts.

To disengage the feed trough from the feed hopper, the foregoing steps are just reversed, that is to say, the pendent latches are first rotated rearward and the feed trough is then pushed forward so that the extended portions of the shanks of the hooks 61: will rest upon the pins 63, after which the gear chain 18 is disengaged from the wheel 17 and the feed trough is then moved forward with its rear end held upward, so that the hooks will pass clear over the pins 63.

The roll conveyer 7*, when used, is preferably composed of the shaft 24 on which are secured the spiders 69 provided with a plurality of radial arms 70 inthe ends of of the hood, wil

which are provided the key seats 71 for the key bars 7 2 around which are assembled the rings 73 having the internal key seats 74 and the series of peripheral teeth 75 thereon. The key seats 74 on the rings, are formed wider than the teeth, so'that', when the rings are assembled to form the roll, the teeth are spaced apart to form a series of intervening intervals; and one or more brace spiders 69 may be provided on the shaft between the spiders 69 secured thereon, for sustaining the bars 7 2. The key seats 71 on the ends of the arms 70 of the brace spider 69 are preferably provided with the projections 76 which extend between the spaced rings to hold the brace spider in position.

The series of face bars 77 are secured on the rod 7 8 extending between the side walls 28 of the hood above the forward side of the roll conveyer, and the bar 79 extending between the walls 28 of the hood below the rear side of the roll; between which, rods the face bars extend around the forward and lower sides of the roll conveyer between the teeth of the several rings thereof, in such position that the teeth will protrude in front of and below the bars, as shown in Fig. 9; and it is evident that these face bars 7 7 and the correspondin ribs 7 7 on the side walls %hold the several rings of the feed roll in proper'lateral position, thus rendering unnecessary any other means for securing the rings on the key bars 7 2.

I claim: l. A fodder-cutter feed-mechanism including a hopper having a conveyer in the bottom, an oscillating hood on the hopper having a conveyer in its top, the side walls of the hopper and hood being laterally flared forward between the bottom of the hopper and the top of the hood beyond the sides of the conveyer, and the top of the hood being normally inclined upward and forward.

2. A fodder-cutter feed-mechanism including a hopper, a hood on the hopper having a transverse conveyer shaft in its rear end, the side walls of the hood and hopper being flared forward and telescoped. one within the other, pivotal connectlons -between the forward ends of the hopper and the hood, and slots in the side walls of the hopper curved concentric with the pivots, the conveyer shaft extending through and oscillating in at least one of the slots.

3. A'- fodder-cutter feed-mechanism including a hopper, a hood on the hop er, the side walls of the hopper and hoo being flared forward and' the top of the hood being normally inclined upward and forward, and a pivotal connection between the flared walls of the hopper and the hoo d including upright longitudinal ears on the side walls of the hopper, wedge-bosses on the side walls of-the hood with trunnions on the bosses bearing in the ears.

4. A fodder cutter I feed-mechanism in-a cluding a hopper, a hood on the hopper, the

side walls of the hopper and hood being flared forward and the top of the hood being normally inclined upward and forward, and a pivotal connection between the flared walls of the hopper and the hood including upright longitudinal ears on the side walls of the hopper, wedge-bosses on the side walls bearing in the ears and extending outside the same, and bolts having-heads bearing" of the hood with trunnions on the bosses against the ends of the trunnions.

5 A fodder-cutter feed-mechanism including a hopper, an oscillating hood on the hopper, a rock shaft above thehood, crank arms on the rock shaft, connections between the crank arms and the hood, a spring on the rock shaft for counterbalancing the hood when lowered and another spring on the rock shaft for depressing the hood when raised. i

6. A fodder-cutter feed-mechanism including a hopper, an oscillating hood on the hopper, the top of the hood being normally inclined upward and forward, a spring counterbalancing the hood .when lowered,

and a spring depressing the hood when raised,

7. A fodder-cutter roll-conveyer including a shaft, spiders secured thereon having arms with key seats on the ends, key bars in the key seats, and rings havingperipheral teeth on the outerside and key seats on the inner side engaging'the key bars.

8. A fodder-cutter roll-conveyer including a shaft, spiders secured thereon having arms with key seatson the ends, key bars in the key seats, and rings having peripheral teeth on the outer side and key seats on the inner side engaging the key bars, the ring key seats being wider than the ring teeth.

9. fodder-cutter roll-confeyer includ ing a shaft, spiders secured thereon having arms with key seatson the ends, key bars in the key seats, and rings having peripheral teeth on the outerside and key seats on the inner side engaging the key bars, and a brace spider on the shaft having projections on its key seatsentered between adjacent rings.

10. A fodder-cutter roll-conveyer including a frame having bearings therein, a shaft in the bearings, splders onthe shaft having armswith key-seats on the ends, key bars 1n the key seats, rings having peripheral teeth on the outer side and key'seats on the inner sides engaging the bars, the key seats being wider than the ring teeth for spacing the teeth apart, and face bars mounted in the frame and extending around one .side of the roll between the spaced teeth within the pro,- truding ends thereof.

11. A fodder-cutter roll-conveyer including a frame having bearings therein, a shaft 1n the bearings, spiders on the shaft having arms with key seats on the ends, key bars in the key seats, rings having peripheral teeth on the outer side and key seats on the inner sides engaging the bars, the key seats being Wider than the ring teeth for spacing the teeth apart, face bars mounted in the frame and extending around one side of the roll between the spaced teeth Within the protruding ends thereof, and ribs on the frame cor- 10 responding with the face bars abutting the end rings of the roll.

JOSEPH DICK. Witnesses:

RUTH A. MILLER, PHILIP A. H. TERRELL. 

